If you’d have placed a bet on Birmingham City Football Club going up at the start of this season, you’d have been able to compare odds and be in with a good chance of a pay out.
With John Eustace managing under the new owners Shelby Companies Ltd, a subsidiary of US-based Knighthead Capital Management and fronted by co-founder Tom Wagner, and former Manchester City CEO Garry Cook at the helm, the points were starting to rack up with enough wins to leave the club in the top section of the Championship League.
However, for some reason, Eustace was giving his marching orders and former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney became the new manager.
Roney’s track record as a manager was particularly poor already, and this was to be the theme during his fractious time at Birmingham City FC.
The fans did not take to Rooney and his subordinates, with a truly attrocious record, many losses left the Blues languishing in the lower half of the league by the time he had been released by the board.
Next in line was Tony Mowbray, a favourite manager in the north east who has a track record of stabilising the ship and getting the best out of the players.
Things started to look up for the Blues, with an improvement in performance, however, unbelievably, after just a few games in charge, Mowbray had to step down temporarily due to a medical condition which is ongoing.
This left the club, and fams in complete disaray. With a stand-in manager the next few games were lost leaving Birmingham staring relegation in the face, going from a possible promotion to the Premier League at the start of the season to a possible relegation twoards the end has left Blues fans completely deflated and fuming.
The only saving grace is former manager Gary Rowett has stepped in to try and save the season for Birmingham City.
Rowett was a popular manager at Blues and did well for the club during his previous appointment, and after a spell at Millwall where he steadied the ship, this local lad is back in Blues and the next few games will be real nail biters with all eyes on that crucial win to save relegation to what will be an arduous task to return from.
Hopefully Mowbray will recover and can step back in, but it may well be too late, or, if Rowett brings the goods, he may well end up staying on.
The new owners have big plans for a new stadium and sports complex so survival this season adds even more pressure.
Watch this space.